Dissident Ai Weiwei protests possible extradition of Assange
The dissident Chinese contemporary artist Ai Weiwei staged a silent protest outside London's Old Bailey court on Monday against the possible extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States, where he is wanted on an array of espionage charges.
Ai, who has visited Assange regularly over the past few years both at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London until Assange's eviction last year and at Britain's Belmarsh high security prison since, said authorities have to protect the freedom of the press.
Ai, 63, is one of the world’s most successful artists, famous around the world for his installations of bicycles and sunflower seeds. In his native China, he was alternately encouraged, tolerated and harassed, spending time in detention and being barred for years from leaving the country. He was arrested at Beijing’s airport in April 2011 and held for 81 days without explanation during a wider crackdown on dissent that coincided with the international ferment of the Arab Spring revolutions. He is now based in Berlin and in the U.K.